Disposable and collapsible plastic cooler

ABSTRACT

A disposable bedside cooler made of heat-sealed plastic which is collapsible for convenient storage having a dry inner cylindrical cavity for insertion of the object to be cooled and maintained dry therein surrounded by a watertight annular coolant chamber having a slide fastener in its outer cylindrical side wall adjacent the top of the cooler zip opening for the insertion of ice therein and zip closing for the nonspill of the ice and melt therefrom in the event of an accidental upset of the cooler.

United States Patent [1 1 J orgensen [451 July 3,1973

DISPOSABLE AND COLLAPSIBLE PLASTIC COOLER lnventor: Blanche 1. Jorgensenl8l8 W. 7

Norwood Avenue, Chicago, 111. 60626 Filed: Apr. 23; 1971 Appl. No.:136,712

US. Cl. ..'220/9 R, 62/372, 62/457, 190/41 Z, 220/13 Int. Cl 865d 25/18Field of Search 220/9 R, 13; 62/372, 62/457, 530; 150/52 F; 190/41 ZReferences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/ 1899 Middlekauff 220/9 R4/1929 Howard 190/41 Z 3,139,165 6/1964 Taussig 190/41 Z PrimaryExaminer-Samuel B. Rothberg Assistant Examiner-Stephen P. GarbeAttorney-Rummler and Snow [5 7 ABSTRACT A disposable bedside cooler madeof heat-sealed plastic which is collapsible for convenient storagehaving a dry inner cylindrical cavity for insertion of the object to becooled and maintained dry therein surrounded by a watertight annularcoolant chamber having a slide fastener in its outer cylindrical sidewall adjacent the top of the cooler zip opening for the insertion of icetherein and zip closing for the nonspill of the ice and melt therefromin the event of an accidental upset of the cooler.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures DISPOSABLE AND COLLAPSIBLE PLASTIC COOLERBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It has always been a problem in hospitalpatient care to have continuously available chilled drinking fluids atthe bedside for the many medical needs of modern medicine, such as, forinstance, cream for ulcer patients and juices for kidney and gallpatients. The trend in hospitals of late has been toward the single useof equipment which is used around the person of the patient which can betaken home by the patient when discharged from the hospital, or disposedof as is seen fit. One of the most serious problems in hospitals isdisposition of solid waste materials, which amounts on an average to 30pounds per person per day, on a national scale.

Commercially available coolers used for this purpose are far fromsatisfactory. They are usually an open topped bucket filled with crackedice or ice cubes.

Such bucket collers are difficult to clean and in hospital work,cleanliness and sterilization are an absolute necessity.

Typically such a cooler for hospital bedside use is an aluminum bucketpartially filled with ice in which a perforated metallic loose-fittingcover is laid having an axial opening for insertion of a liquidcontainer. In this instance, the liquid container is wetted by the iceand ice melt so that not only is there ever present the danger of an icewater spill over everything within reach of the patient if the bucket isaccidently knocked over (and this is a common occurrence), but theobject cooled is wet and slippery to the grasp of the patient, thuscompounding the possibilities and probabilities of such a spill. Thiscondition is happening many times a day in hospitals.

Then, too, this bucket is not disposable so it must be completely andthoroughly sterilized after use by each individual patient, presenting aburdensome continuing maintenance problem to an already overloadedhospital facility, where the number of kitchen utensils, surgicalinstruments and bedside care pots, pans and bed chambers needingperiodic sterilization is already legion. Sterilization of the aluminumbucket normally tarnishes the same and the same takes on an ugly,unsanitary sppearance.

If an article for hospital use is disposable, it should also beconveniently and sanitarily storable for quick assembly in readiness foruse. None of the commercially available coolers satisfy thisrequirement.

There is thus a need for a disposable and conveniently storable bedsidecooler with a dry cavity for cooling of objects to be consumed by thepatient in connection with a substantially watertight coolant chamberclosed for the retention of the ice cubes and melted ice thereinwhereby, in the event the container is knocked over, the ice cubes andmelted water therefrom will be maintained therein without spill thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of this invention is toprovide a disposable bedside cooler preferably made of a heatsealedplastic construction which is collapsible for convenient storage and hasa dry inner cylindrical cavity open at the top and closed at the bottomfor the insertion of objects to be cooled and maintained dry therein.This inner dry cylindrical cavity is surrounded by and contained in anannular coolant chamber having a sealed closed top and a sealed closedbottom and a cylindrical outer side wall which is water tight for thereception of ice cubes. The annular coolant chamber has a slide fastenerclosure anchored to the outer side wall adjacent the top of the coolantchamber for the insertion of ice therein to seal the closure after thefilling of the coolant chamber with ice cubes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of acooler of heat-sealed plastic showing the dry cavity containing theobject to be cooled with a slide fastener closure in the outer side wallof the annular coolant chamber in the closed position;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the cooler showing the dry cav- FIG. 3 is across-sectional view of the cooler taken along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 2showing the heat-sealed junctures of the top and bottom walls with theinner cylindrical cavity wall and the outer cylindrical side wall;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the cooler shown collapsed and ready forstorage; and

FIG. 5 is a side view of the cooler showing the slide fastener closurein the outer cylindrical side wall partially open for the insertion ofice cubes therein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3,it will be seen that the sealed watertight plastic cooler comprises anannular top wall 14 having an outer rim 12 spaced from a circular bottomwall 28. Circular bottom wall 28 has an outer rim 26 and an inner face32. As shown in FIG. 3, an outer cylindrical side wall 10 is heat-sealedalong its top end to the outer rim 12 of top wall 14, and along itsbottom end to the outer rim 26 of bottom wall 28. The top wall 14 isprovided with a central circular opening 15 having an inner rim 20leading to a dry cylindrical cavity 16. Dry cylindrical cavity 16 has aninnercylindrical wall 18 which is heat-sealed along its upper end to theinner rim 20 of the top wall 14, and along its lower end to the innerface 32 of the bottom wall 28. The outer cylindrical wall 10 isheat-sealed along its length at juncture 22. The inner cylindrical wall18 is heat-sealed along its length at juncture 24.

The area between the outer wall 10 and the inner wall 18, along with topwall 14 and bottom wall 28, forms annular coolant chamber 34 forcontaining the ice cubes, etc., while the area within the wall 18 formsthe dry inner cavity 16 for the objects to be cooled.

In FIG. 5, attention is directed to slide fastener 36 anchored in sidewall 10 adjacent to top wall 14 of the cooler with a tab 38 drawn for apartially open closure ready for introduction of ice into the chamber34.

In FIG. 1, the slide fastener 36 is shown drawn in closed position forcontaining the ice when the cooler is in use by the bedside. Also shownis a typical fluid container 40 placed in dry cavity 16 to be cooled.

The cooler as endwise collapsed for storage is shown in FIG. 4 with tab38 of slide fastener 36 fully drawn to completely open the closure.

The device of the present invention is preferably constructed from flatpieces of plastic, such as a translucent heavy (0.020 inch) vinyl(polyvinyl chloride) and built up by heat-sealing the seams.

It should be obvious that any waterproof material may be employedinstead of polyvinyl chloride plastic and any means for closing theopening in the side wall may also be provided, like, for instance, thetrademarked material Vulcra or the like.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention is herein shownand described, it will be understood that details of the constructionshown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of theinvention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A disposable and endwise collapsible plastic cooler comprising:

a. a sealed coolant chamber having a collapsible, cy-

lindrical outer side wall and top and bottom walls;

b. a dry cavity located within said coolant chamber,

said cavity being defined by a collapsible cylindrical inner side walland the bottom wall of said coolant chamber, the said wall of said drycavity extending between and attached at its top end to the top wall andat its bottom end to the bottom wall of said coolant chamber, theperiphery of the top end of the inner wall defining the periphery of anopening which extends through the top wall of said coolant chamber;

c. a sealable closure in the outer side wall of the coolant chamber forinsertion of' ice therein, and

d. the inner and outer side walls of said cooler being held in spacedrelation around its entire periphery.

2. The disposable and collapsible cooler-as in claim 1 wherein the drycavity is coaxial with the coolant chamber and the sealable closure is aslide fastener closure anchored to said outer side wall adjacent the topof said coolant chamber.

3. A disposable and collapsible cooler as set forth in claim 1 whereinthe top end of said inner wall and the bottom walls of said cavity aresubstantially in the same plane as the top and bottom walls respectivelyof the sealed coolant chamber.

1. A disposable and endwise collapsible plastic cooler comprising: a. asealed coolant chamber having a collapsible, cylindrical outer side walland top and bottom walls; b. a dry cavity located within said coolantchamber, said cavity being defined by a collapsible cylindrical innerside wall and the bottom wall of said coolant chamber, the said wall ofsaid dry cavity extending between and attached at its top end to the topwall and at its bottom end to the bottom wall of said coolant chamber,the periphery of the top end of the inner wall defining the periphery ofan opening which extends through the top wall of said coolant chamber;c. a sealable closure in the outer side wall of the coolant chamber forinsertion of ice therein, and d. the inner and outer side walls of saidcooler being held in spaced relation around its entire periphery.
 2. Thedisposable and collapsible cooler as in claim 1 wherein the dry cavityis coaxial with the coolant chamber and the sealable closure is a slidefastener closure anchored to said outer side wall adjacent the top ofsaid coolant chamber.
 3. A disposable and collapsible cooler as setforth in claim 1 wherein the top end of said inner wall and the bottomwalls of said cavity are substantially in the same plane as the top andbottom walls respectively of the sealed coolant chamber.